jg THA'KUR DATA RA'M OF HA'THRAS.
equally liberal and public spirited. Thus, when Sir William Muir started his
scheme for a Central College at Allahabad, they supported him with a subscrip-
tion of Hs. 2,500 i and In the famine of 1874, before the Government had put
forth any appeal to the public, they spontaneously called a relief meeting and
lieaded the list with a donation of Rs. 7,100. Again, when the construction of
the Matlmm and Hathras Light Railway was made conditional on its receiving
it certain amount of local support, they at once took shares to the extent of a
lakh and-a-half of rupees, simply with the view of farthering the wishes of Gov-
ernment and promoting the prosperity of their native town : profit was certainly
not their object, as the money had to be withdrawn from other investments,
where It was yielding a much higher rate of interest. In short, it has always
been the practice of the family to devote a large proportion of their ample means
to works of charity and general utility. Thus their great temple at Brinda-ban,
built at a cost of 45 lakhs of rupees, is not only a place for religious worship,
but includes also an alms-house for the relief of the indigent and a college
where students are trained in Sanskrit literature and philosophy. Again, the
city of Matlmra, which has now become one of the handsomest in all Upper
India, owes much of its striking appearance to the buildings erected in it by
the Seths. It Is also approached on either side, both from Delhi and from Agra,
by a fine bridge constructed at the sole cost of Lakhmi Chanel. . To other
worksj which do- not so conspicuously bear their names, they have been among
the largest contributors, and it would be scarcely possible to find a single
deserving institution in the neighbourhood, to which they have not given a
helping hand. Even the Catholic Church received from them a donation of Us.
1,100, a fact that deserves mention as a signal illustration of their uusectarian
benevolence,
The Jafc family of highest ancestral rank in the district is the one repre-
sented by the titular Baja of Hathras, who comes of the same stock as the Rajji
of Mnrsan. His two immediate predecessors were both men of mark in local
history, and his pedigree, as will be seen from the accompanying sketch, is one
of respectable antiquity.
Makhan Sinn, the founder of the family, was an immigrant from Rajpu-
taiw, who settled in the neighbourhood of Mnrsan about the year 1860 A.D,
His great-grandson, Tli&kur Nand Ram, who bore also the title of Faujd'ar,'
died In 1696, leaving 14 sons, of whom it is necessary to mention two only'
«*., Jaikaran Sinh and Jai Sink The great-grandson of the former was Raj£
Bhagavant Sink of Morsftn, and of the latter Thakur Daya R&m of Hathras,